Motivation
by Scrat and Jidders
Summary: OoT. A story exploring why exactly Zelda revealed herself and allowed herself to get kidnapped by Ganon.


**AN:** Might have spoiler if you don't know who Sheik really is… Plus, this does not follow the game exactly because I think Zelda getting kidnapped from the Temple of Time was stupid. So I changed the location but other than that it's pretty generic.

**Third Exchange**  
Fandom: Free Choice  
Theme: Take a scene from a fandom that never made sense to you (is illogical, plot holes, etc) and make it work.  
Word Limit: None  
Time Limit: Two Weeks

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**Motivation**

Zelda crouched in the shadows of the branches, watching Link. After two months of helping rebuild, he had finally gone off and cleansed the Spirit Temple. She had remained crouched outside that temple as well, waiting in worry that he would fail. But it had luckily been for nothing as he stumbled out of the temple, forty-eight hours after entering. She hadn't been surprised when he called Epona and rode her out to this island in the land – he had done it after the Shadow Temple as well.

But it was now five weeks later.

She was worried.

In the beginning, when he had first awoken, Link had been overfilled with drive and determination to see this through to the end. He had cleared the Forest Temple, the Fire Temple, and the Water Temple all within one month's time. But something had happened. Suddenly, the fire was gone from his eyes.

She had given him his space, figuring that perhaps the seven years sleep had finally caught up on him. Ganon had been dealt a terrible blow, losing three temples so quickly, and a short break from Link would not be enough for Ganon to recover. But it hadn't been short. He had stayed with the Zoras for nearly three weeks helping them get back on their feet. She could not blame him for that, but at the same time her eye would return to the well and she could feel Ganon's anger growing.

When Link had finally left the Zora's Domain Sheik had been able to convince him of the danger the well possessed and they had ridden to Kakariko Village to rid it before it could manifest, only to be too late. Then Link had disappeared and the well suddenly regained its water and when he had finally returned Link had disappeared immediately into the Shadow Temple.

With every temple defeated, more land cleared of Ganon's influence. With every temple's defeat, Link seemed more reluctant to fight. She shadowed him for the two months he refused to fight and instead helped rebuild houses, families to reunite, and cities to reorganize. He was nameless, and yet everyone had something to say when the topic of the fairy boy arose.

He had finally confronted the desert and saved the Gerudos locked under Ganon's control. Since then, he had made no move towards approaching Ganon's Castle.

Zelda could understand. He was a gentle soul forced into battle. As the temples cleared he saw no true reason to defeat Ganon himself. He did not understand that the temples weren't the source of Ganon's power, just where he had been storing it. Yes, cleansing the temples of Ganon's evil taint and stored magic had set Ganon back, but given time Ganon would recover. While they would be on equal ground with each holding a triforce, Ganon had the desire to win and the age to be devious.

If Ganon was allowed to recover, Link would lose.

At first, she had tried to rethink her plan to defeat Ganon. Was there some way she could defeat Ganon without Link? But only the triforces could face off against each other and Wisdom was never one meant for battle. And even if Wisdom could be used by a warrior, she was not so ignorant as to believe that she had the skills and strength to face off against Ganon. She had lived safely within the castle and even these past seven years she was trained with the ideal of fleeing to survive rather than face battle. She was under no illusion as to her importance, if Hyrule was to recover she would be essential.

She needed to find some way to convince Link the fight wasn't over. For the last week she had bent her mind to the problem, and she finally had an answer. Words would not be enough. With Link, nothing was more important than saving people. Nothing more important than the safety of the whole kingdom. What better represented the kingdom than Zelda herself?

But simply appearing before him as her true self wouldn't be enough. She had concluded early on that words would never be enough, not even spoken from her.

Yet Ganon was weakened and had been laying low long enough that Ganon might believe they believed him defeated, which perhaps was not that far off from what Link actually believed. It would then not be strange that Zelda finally felt safe enough to come out of hiding and let her guard down. If she were to appear without the safety precautions that had ruled her life for the last seven years, she had no doubt that Ganon would snatch her up to steal her triforce.

The plan was frustrating. She had spent the last seven years ensuring such a thing could never happen. She had escaped countless times right under his own nose. There was also the fact she was depending on a number of conditions she could only theorize to. On Ganon's greed, his impatience, his short-sightedness. That he would react without thinking.

But to have the Princess Zelda snatched right before him, well, that was a call to arms Link could not refuse.

**End.**


End file.
